11th June 2008 : Column 257W, AWE Burghfield
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2008, Official Report, column 2138W, on AWE Burghfield, in what way the emergency arrangements infrastructure at AWE Burghfield was affected by the July 2007 flooding; and what steps have been taken to remedy the situation. [208892]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: As a consequence of the flooding in July 2007, the fallback incident control room, fallback medical centre and health physics support areas at AWE Burghfield sustained some damage. Contingency arrangements were put in place to ensure full emergency response could be activated if required. These were considered by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) to be adequate at all times for the activities being undertaken. On 22 April 2008, AWE Burghfield undertook its annual exercise on emergency response arrangements, witnessed by the NII, who considered that the exercise adequately demonstrated AWE Burghfield’s capability in this area.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 178W, on AWE Burghfield, how many of the safety shortfalls identified at AWE Burghfield by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate remain outstanding; and what the target date is for remedial work to be completed. [208894]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The safety case issues to which the hon. Member refers were identified not by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, but by AWE plc in its own Periodic Review of Safety. In my answer on 15 January 2008, Official Report, column 1132W, to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock), I indicated that 50 work packages were due for completion by 31 March 2008 and that the remaining 53 were scheduled to be complete by the end of the year. The 50 work packages were completed by the due date. The remainder remain on course for completion, as planned.